A Grissom Academy Christmas
by Revan's Mask
Summary: Jack's not really a fan of Christmas, but when Miranda decides she wants to celebrate, Subject Zero does her best to oblige her girlfriend. A Christmas story set in the 4th Life universe.
1. Chapter 1

**With all of the angst going on in Little Problems, I thought this might be a good time for something lighter: another holiday story in the vein of last year's Thessian Christmas, this one staring Jack and Miranda, set in the 4****th**** Life Universe and featuring a mix of fluff and (In the 2****nd**** chapter), smut. Enjoy.**

* * *

"Fuck Christmas."

In spite of its vulgarity, Miranda couldn't help but smile at her girlfriend's declaration and as she watched Jack guzzle down the prodigious amounts of coffee the biotic liked to drink with her breakfast, she decided to probe deeper.

"What, may I ask, apart from your generally sunny disposition, would lead you to say that?"

The operative took a sip of her tea while she waited for Jack to answer. It was nice, starting her days like this. She'd been thoroughly accustomed to waking up alone, but over the last few months, she'd found the change surprisingly easy to get used to. Alone wasn't something she liked as much as she used to, especially not since Oriana died. There wasn't a day that went by when she didn't miss her sister, but having Jack there made it hurt a little less.

"'Cause it's bullshit," the biotic finally replied, "All this good cheer and peace on earth crap. People suck and it's dumb to spend one day a year pretending they don't."

"Now, Jack," Miranda chided her lover gently, "I know you don't really feel that way." She gave the ex-convict her most endearing look, a smile who's warmth very few people ever got to see.

"Fine," Jack conceded, rolling her brown eyes, those pretty brown eyes that Miranda found such an interesting contrast to the rest of her hard-edged appearance. "You're okay." Miranda raised an eyebrow. "And Shep," the biotic added, "And a few other people. But this Christmas shit is still too much."

Miranda picked up the last of the strawberries from the bowl sitting in-between them, slowly sucking the fruit off of the stem. It was expensive, having them delivered here to Grissom Academy while they were still fresh, but the operative found the fruit to be one of the few things from her childhood it was hard to give up. "Tell me, Jack," she asked while licking her lips clean of the juices in a manner guaranteed to ensure she had the biotic's full attention, "Have you ever actually celebrated Christmas properly?"

Jack snorted. "Holidays weren't exactly a high priority in Cerberus' kiddy death camp."

"What about later on? I know it's my first year here, but it seems as if Grissom Academy has a celebration every year."

"I guess." The biotic shrugged. "Never felt much like getting involved in it, though." She resumed eating her donut when a thought occurred to her. "What about you, cheerleader? I can't picture your asshole dad being a real festive guy."

"Oh, not at all," Miranda agreed. "I spent many of my holidays at the boarding school in Switzerland he'd packed me off to once he'd decided I was a disappointment as an heir. It wasn't so bad though. Some of the other students were in similar straits, and the teachers who were still there took pity on us, I suppose. They'd get us little presents and the kitchen would make some holiday favorites. After a few years, I rather came to look forward to it."

"Look at you, getting all misty-eyed and shit." Jack's words were similar to those she might have used years earlier, but her tone was not. The cruel edge that used to accompany her sarcastic remarks to the operative had been sanded off by time and affection, but Miranda liked that Jack still teased her. Someone who could keep her on her toes was what she wanted in a relationship; it was why it never would have worked out between her and Jacob.

"Just feeling a little nostalgic," she told Jack. "A sign of my increasing age, I suppose."

"Old age?" Jack laughed. "I think you've got a ways to go before your ass stops being perfect, cheerleader. But fuck it," she added, "You want Christmas, I'll gave you Christmas."

* * *

"I have no idea what to get her for Christmas!"

Kahlee Sanders took a swig of her orange juice, seemingly non-pulsed by her colleague's distress. "I'm sure whatever you pick will be fine, Jack."

"You don't get it," the biotic complained as she picked at the cafeteria's poor excuse for a pork chop. "It's our first Christmas living together, and she had a really fucked up year, and I'm no good at this kind of shit."

"I'm afraid I really don't know Miranda all that well," Kahlee admitted. "She's only been here a few months. Perhaps some jewelry or perfume would work? Those are always nice gifts."

Jack gave Kahlee a roll of her eyes. She liked the older woman, but she could be annoyingly white bread sometimes. "This isn't some fucking extranet ad," she complained, "I need something special, not some dumb shit an accountant gets his wife. "

"You might be right," Kahlee conceded. She didn't get offended easily, which Jack realized was probably a good thing, given the biotic's personality. "I might not be the best person to help you out with this. Perhaps you should call up one of your old comrades."

* * *

"The beating heart of one of her enemies."

Jack starred at Grunt's image across the extra-net connection to the military base on Tuchanka where he was stationed. The krogan general wore a big, toothy grin that made it hard for her to tell if he was joking or not. "Uh, I'm not sure that'd be the best idea, big guy. I mean, Miranda likes revenge as much as the next girl, but this isn't really that kind of holiday." Plus, she reflected, thinking of Edric Turner, she kind of gave her girlfriend that present already.

"How about booze?", Grunt suggested. "Booze is good."

Jack shook her head. "Yeah, booze is definitely good, but Miranda drinks these fruity wines, and I don't know anything about that shit."

"Hm." The krogan scratched his massive, scaled head as he pondered the problem. "What about an axe? Shepard got me an axe once. Nothing inspires the boys like watching you kill something with a big axe."

"We're not really in the 'killing things with an axe' business anymore," she told him. "Plus, Miranda's not really an axe kind of chick."

Grunt chortled. "Maybe not. She always did like keeping her kills clean." He shrugged. "I got nothing else. Maybe you should ask Tali. She's real smart."

* * *

"A present for Miranda?" Tali scrunched up her nose as she considered the question. It was still weird for Jack to see the quarian like this, though she did have to admit Tali's real face was a lot prettier than that bucket she used to wear on her head.

"Yeah," she told her, "There's this stupid human holiday coming up and I don't know what to get her."

"That's hard, I mean Miranda's so… Oh!" Tali perked up suddenly, lifting Jack's spirits right along with hers. "I know. When we were building the disruptor for Shepard, we had this really great electromagnetic field modulator we used."

Jack was incredulous. "You want me to get her an electromagnetic whatever for Christmas?"

"No, no, she already has one of those, or at least she did at her old job. But when we were working with it, she was telling me about this new capacitor Ariake Technologies was developing that takes some of the excess electromagnetic energy from a drive core and redirects it for productive use. It's totally awesome and I think it's finally on the market."

Jack shook her head in frustration. "Tali, I'm trying to find something, I dunno, romantic. Not some weird tech gizmo that I can't even understand."

Tali got a wistful look her eyes. "I'd think it was romantic if someone gave me that."

"Nerd."

Tali blushed a cute shade of dark purple. "Yeah, I might have weird tastes," she admitted. "Besides, I think it costs like 2 million credits anyway."

"I don't know what they're paying you in that job on Rannoch," Jack told her old friend, "But that's a little steep on a fucking Alliance instructors' salary."

"Sorry," Tali said. "Maybe you should call Shepard instead. She's always good at this kind of thing."

* * *

"I don't suppose she'd like an extra Maidens of the Golden Sword Mountain Hideaway Play-Set, because somehow Liara and I ended up buying two of them for Moira."

That got a grin out of Jack. "You guys do Christmas?"

"Yeah, we started a few years back after Ash sent me a tree and it's starting to catch on here. Liara and I actually had a party last night. Elphi even got Javik to wear a Santa hat."

The biotic laughed at the image before turning serious. "How do you do it, Shep?", she asked. "I mean, one minute, you're this super-bad-ass soldier and then you just turn around and do this domestic shit like it's easy."

Her old commander smiled warmly at her. "I wouldn't exactly say it's always been easy for me, but I see what you mean. I guess I was relatively lucky," she explained. "I actually got to have a normal childhood before all the messed-up stuff started and that gave me an idea of the kind of life I wanted when I was ready to settle down."

Jack snorted. "Yeah, normal's definitely something the cheerleader and I didn't get. I mean, I never fucking thought I'd be playing house, let alone with someone like her."

"I know," Shepard agreed with a chuckle. "I'm not sure anyone would've pictured you two together either. But you're good for each other, and you'll figure out the rest as you go."

"I appreciate that," Jack told her, "But I still need a damn present. You got anything besides asari kiddy toys in mind, because everybody else I talked to about this was fucking useless?"

Shepard sat back in her leather office chair, the older woman taking a minute to consider her question. "Look, Jack," she told her, "There's a million things that would be pretty good that I could help you pick out, but I don't think that's what you want. You want something special and that has to come from you. You're the one Miranda loves, the one she chose to live with. Try and think of something you can get for her that nobody else would or could."

* * *

Miranda breathed a sigh of relief as the sliding door to the quarters she shared with Jack closed behind her. The academy's Christmas party had been perfectly fine, but to be honest, she simply wasn't a people person. Certainly, she knew how to manipulate them, and she could sometimes enjoy their company, but she just wasn't built the same way as someone like Shepard or Kelly Chambers.

Her evening hadn't been improved by the fact that Jack had disappeared at some point during the party. Miranda didn't want to make a big deal about it; she knew her girlfriend disliked such affairs more than she did, at least if she wasn't allowed to get roaring drunk at them, but she still was a bit miffed.

The operative had just finished kicking off her heels and was stretching out her toes when she heard Jack's voice coming from the bedroom. "Hey, Miranda, in here."

Miranda raised a curious eyebrow, but she did as her girlfriend asked, surprised to find it dark when she arrived at their room. Her right hand flicked the light-switch by the doorway and when they came on, her eyes widened. Lying on the bed, her naked form only slightly covered by the huge, red ribbon tied around her body, was Jack.

"Merry Christmas, cheerleader."


	2. Chapter 2

At Jack's words, Miranda licked her lips. Her girlfriend looked delicious laid out for her like that this, and whatever irritation she'd been feeling dissipated as she realized why the biotic had left the party early.

"I take it that this is my Christmas present," she said, a mischievous gleam filling her light blue eyes.

"Fuck, yeah," Jack agreed emphatically, before explaining, "So, you know how when we screw, I always top the shit out of you?" Miranda rolled her eyes slightly at that characterization. An exhilarating fight for dominance was more like how she would describe their sex life, but she was too intrigued to interrupt for now. "Anyway," Jack continued, "I though this time you could, you know, do what you wanted with me instead."

In spite of Jack's boasting, Miranda smiled, genuinely touched by the offer given how hard it was for her lover to give up control, whether in bed or elsewhere. "A generous gift," the operative replied, closing in on the bed. She reached down and untied the bow around Jack's torso, sliding the ribbon off to reveal the biotics' trim body. As she did, Jack bent upwards, catching Miranda's mouth for a kiss, but the operative kept it brief, pulling away after a quick peck.

"Not just yet," she chided Jack, "I want a chance to play with you a bit first."

She could see in Jack's eyes that her lover wanted to say something snarky in response, but she remembered her promise and restrained herself, a gesture Miranda appreciated. Taking hold of the ribbon, she lifted Jack's arms up and used it to tie them to the headboard. It was a simple knot, something her girlfriend could escape even without her biotics, but she'd have to make the effort, letting Miranda know she'd had enough of their little game.

Once the biotic's wrists were secured, Miranda took a moment to admire the view in front of her. Jack usually seemed so big in spite of her size, her personality and power making it feel as if she took up more space than she really did. Now, though, she had allowed herself to be deliciously vulnerably, a rare present Miranda was looking forward to enjoying fully.

Reaching a perfectly manicured finger down, the operative trailed it slowly along Jack's tattooed neck and chest. Dexterously, she traced the varied designs there, stopping just long enough at the biotic's nipples to tease them into hardness before moving on. "You really are quite pretty, Jack," she said as her lover's back arched, trying for more of her touch. "It's nice to get a chance to look at you properly."

"Usually too busy fucking your brains out," Jack hissed as Miranda stroked the taut muscles of her chest, building her desire up further.

"And don't think I don't appreciate when you do that," Miranda replied. "But sometimes it's nice to take my time and enjoy the view." Her hands slid underneath the biotic's tight ass, cupping the cheeks before sliding down her legs and coaxing them apart. At their juncture, she could see the biotic's sex already swollen with desire, her hard clit peeking out from under it's hood.

"And you, I see, are enjoying it too," she added, her fingers moving back up Jack's body but stopping just short of where her lover wanted her to go, instead rubbing her inner thighs. "You profess such a disdain for what others think of your appearance, but that isn't entirely true, is it? You like that I find you attractive."

Beneath her, she could see Jack's chest rising and falling more rapidly, her breathing getting ragged as the operative kept refusing to give her what she wanted. "Shit," she mumbled, "Come the fuck on, Miranda."

The operative bent down, her breath warm on Jack's pierced ear. "Normally, dear, I enjoy your more vulgar vocalizations, but tonight I think I'd like you to be clearer about what you want."

"Fucking touch me!", Jack demanded in response, and Miranda obliged, but only barely. Her fingertips brushed over her lover's sex, making Jack's hips push up as she tried to increase the pressure on her clit. Instead, Miranda just slid her hand slowly over her opening, gathering a bit of the biotic's growing wetness on her fingers. As Jack watched, rapt, Miranda brought the digits up to her lips, sucking them clean with an audible pop the elicited its designed reaction, making her girlfriend nearly choke on her own tongue.

"Damn it, cheerleader," she gasped, "More!"

"I thought this was my night," the operative told her, her voice as innocent as she could make it under the circumstances. Jack bit her lip, slumping down on the bed as she complied and Miranda purred, "Good girl." She brought her hand back up to her girlfriend's sex, but this time, it was her pussy she sought out, probing inside her with a pair of long fingers. Tight as Jack was, her slick arousal let Miranda slide inside her with relative ease, and she raised a sultry eyebrow in mock surprise. "You really are ready, aren't you?", she teased. "Tell me, Jack, how long were you waiting for me like this? Lying here naked, getting wetter and hornier with every minute that went by?"

As she asked, she drew her fingers in and out of the convict, stroking her inner walls enough to bring her pleasure but not release. "Hour, maybe," Jack mumbled, her hips writhing as she tried desperately to fuck herself against Miranda's hand.

"And were you touching yourself?", Miranda asked, rewarding the honest answer with a slight increase in her speed.

"Little bit," Jack confessed, "Not enough to get off though."

"Hmm. So, I'm thinking you need this pretty badly then," Miranda replied smugly, increasing her pace once again. "It's okay," she added, "I want you to come now. I want to watch you do that for me." With that, she brought her thumb up to Jack's clit, rubbing it vigorously even while she kept finger-fucking the biotic.

It didn't take long after that. In response to her ministrations, Jack screamed, her pussy clenching down around Miranda's fingers as she screamed out the operative's name. Watching her lover's eyes squeeze shut as she came, her taut muscles arching, the operative's breath hitched, a flush of arousal running through her. She didn't stop what she was doing, extending Jack's badly needed orgasm with a few more thrusts, but she also decided it was time for her to get some satisfaction of her own.

"There," she told her lover, giving her a final stroke over her pulsing clit as she withdrew her hand, "Doesn't that feel better?"

"Shit, yes," Jack panted.

"Well, good, because we're just getting started." Miranda got up from the bed, walking over to the dresser, and when she pulled out their favorite toy, Jack grinned at the sight of the dark shaft in her hand.

"Guess you want to fuck me now, cheerleader."

"Mm, I think I've already done that," Miranda disagreed cheerfully. "No you're going to be the one fucking me, but not the way we usually do. This time, I'll be setting the pace and your just going to lay back and enjoy it."

* * *

Jack thought about saying something to that, but as Miranda slipped the straps of her black cocktail dress off of her shoulders, she decided to shut up and watch for a minute instead. Her girlfriend shimmied out of the garment slowly and sensuously, and as much as Jack usually enjoyed tearing Miranda's clothes off of her, she had to admit that this was pretty fun too.

The cheerleader's body really was spectacular, and thanks to those fancy, tailored genes of hers, she scarcely looked older than when they first met over a decade earlier. Miranda unfastened her bra, unveiling her impressive tits, and as she ran her thumbs over pretty, pink nipples that were already stiff with arousal, Jack swallowed hard. It was tough not to rip out of the ribbon and take what she wanted, and it didn't get easier when the operative slid her hands down her sides and hooked her fingers through the waistband of her matching black panties.

"Jesus, cheerleader," the convict muttered as Miranda slipped out of her underwear and began touching herself, her fingers gliding over her hard clit, "Am I even gonna get to help out?"

"Oh, certainly," the operative replied, her ability to keep her voice steady even as she pleasured herself both infuriating and arousing, "I'm just making sure you're properly motivated first."

"Not a problem," Jack insisted. After all of Miranda's teasing, her climax hadn't been enough to satisfy her and the slight soreness in her still-bound arms was nothing compared to her desire to fuck the cheerleader until they both screamed.

"Wonderful." Miranda sashayed back over to the bed, her hips swaying seductively as she approached. With the toy in hand, the operative guided Jack's legs apart and lined up its short, flared head with her sex. It slid easily into Jack's wet pussy, and she groaned as Miranda set the attachment at it's base so that it would rub over the biotic's clit when they fucked.

"There we go," her lover purred, climbing on top of Jack. She used two of her fingers to spread herself, giving the biotic a perfect view of her wetness, and Jack's hips lifted up, wanting badly to be inside Miranda right away. The angle wasn't right though, and she only succeeded in running the shaft over her lover's clit, eliciting a slight gasp.

"Patience," Miranda chided her and as soon as Jack settled back down, the operative lifted up her hips and wrapped her hand around the toy, guiding it slowly into her. A moan escaped Jack's lips as she filled her lover. The cheerleader looked so unbearably sexy like that, her naked body arching in pleasure, her pussy filled with Jack's shaft, her gaze fixed on the biotic's face. The convict couldn't move her hips very much with the way Miranda's weight was balanced on top of her, but the cheerleader was more than making up the slack, gyrating on top of Jack with impressive passion.

With each twist of her body, the toy rubbed Jack's clit and a steady string of obscenities started falling out of her lips as Miranda rode her. "Fucking Christ," she gasped, "You want me to do something here?"

"Go ahead," Miranda panted, running her hands over Jack's small breasts as she fucked her. The biotic licked her lips, figuring out her next move. She could see the hard point of her lover's clit throbbing, begging her for attention, but with her hands tied, she couldn't reach it.

Fortunately, she had more options than most chicks. Gritting her teeth as she tried her best to focus, she generated a tiny biotic field in-between their bodies, using it to squeeze down on Miranda's needy bud. The result was immediate. Her lover gasped out a breathless, "Jack," before her voice dissolved into a wordless cry, her body jerking above the convict as it got the extra stimulation it had been craving.

Miranda's gyrations dragged the toy along Jack clit, but more than the physical stimulation, it was the sight of her lover coming undone that pulled Jack over the edge along with her. She screamed and her biotics flared to life, ripping the bow off of her arms. She grabbed at Miranda's hips, thrusting over and over into the operative, plunging as deeply as she could while the two women rode out their climaxes together.

When at last Miranda stopped gasping and bucking on top of her, Jack wrapped her arms around her lover, burying her face in the operative's ample chest. "Sorry about that," she panted, shooting a glance at the shredded ribbon.

"Don't worry," Miranda reassured her, tangling her fingers in the convict's short, brown hair. "You held out longer than I would have imagined. That was fantastic."

"Does that mean you're done with me, cheerleader?", Jack asked, still hopeful that the answer would be no.

"Oh, I very much doubt that," Miranda laughed. "The night is still young. Still," she added, "I think a break might be in order. After all, I still need to give your present."

"Shit, I almost forgot about that," the biotic chuckled. "Okay, babe, let me have a look."

Miranda pulled off of the toy and slid it out of Jack, giving her now-exposed clit a wet kiss before rising from the bed. As she made her way to the closet, Jack got an excellent view of her perfect ass, one which only got better when Miranda reached up to get a large, flat box wrapped in red and green paper. Coming back to bed, she handed the box to Jack who ripped it open with her customary enthusiasm, smiling when she saw what was inside.

"Sweet jacket," she observed, running her hands over the soft leather.

"Take it out of the package," her girlfriend told her, and when she did, turning it over in her hands, she saw that on the back was the Grissom Academy logo. "Since you refuse to wear a proper uniform," Miranda explained, "I thought you might appreciate this instead."

Jack beamed, kissing her girlfriend passionately before slipping the coat over her bare shoulders, and Miranda added, "It looks good on you, Jack." She lowered her voice to a sultry whisper, running her hands over the biotic's now-covered chest. "And it will look even better I suspect when you're eating me out in it later on tonight."

"Why wait?", Jack grinned, pushing Miranda down onto the bed, and starting to kiss her way down her lover's body. The operative laughed, a joyful sound that made Jack's heart swell, and as she approached the juncture of the operative's legs, the only thought running through her head was, "Fuck, I love Christmas!"

* * *

**And there it is. Hope you enjoyed this bit of Christmas fluff and smut and a happy holidays to all my readers.**


End file.
